Roanoke, VA Parking Rules: Abandoned Vehicles (2026)

City Code Sec. 20-101 defines an abandoned motor vehicle to cover inoperable vehicles left unattended on public property (other than an interstate or primary highway) for more than 48 hours, vehicles remaining illegally on public property for more than 48 hours, vehicles on private property more than 48 hours without the owner's consent, and vehicles inoperable or unattended on an interstate or the shoulder of a primary highway. Under Sec. 20-102, the city manager, acting through the chief of police, may take any abandoned vehicle into custody using city personnel or independent contractors for towing, preservation, and storage.

Sec. 20-103 requires the chief of police to notify the registered owner and any lienholders by certified mail within 15 days, giving them 15 days from that notice to reclaim the vehicle after paying towing, preservation, and storage charges; if no address can be found, notice by newspaper publication substitutes. Failure to reclaim within the window waives the owner's title and consents to a public auction sale under Sec. 20-104, with proceeds going first to auction, towing, storage and notice costs, and any remainder held for the owner for 90 days before going to the city treasurer.

A separate garage-abandonment rule in Sec. 20-105 lets a garagekeeper report a vehicle left more than ten days (or ten days past a contract period) as abandoned after the same certified-mail notice process. Sec. 20-106 allows disposal of an inoperable abandoned vehicle to a demolisher without title or the standard notice procedures when its fair market value is below its restoration cost.